Intersect Investment Corporation - Assignment Example

Running head: SITUATION ANALYSIS AND PROBLEM MENT: INTERSECT INVESTMENT Situation Analysis and Problem ment: Intersect Investment Corporation Claudia Chiquillo Situation Analysis and Problem Statement The company Intersect Investment is involved in providing financial services. The Company has enjoyed success for the past fifteen years with a team of effective leaders. But after 2001, market conditions have changed and there is increasing uncertainty which is impacting upon the business of the Company. The CEO of the Company, Frank Jeffers has put forth a new vision for the Company to follow in order to improve its business. The process involves the introduction of a package of value based services that is modeled upon the principle of customer intimacy wherein the major focus is upon building an atmosphere of trust and confidence in the company in order to promote a long term, trusted relationship from the customers and thereby improve the Company’s business in the long run. Situation Background The Company Intersect Investment has enjoyed success in previous years. However, after 2001, financial insecurity among customers has resulted in a down swing in sales and profitability. Customers are looking for the best deal and are more willing to switch to another Company for their financial needs. The problem that has arisen is due to the fact that in the prevailing uncertainty after 2001, financial services companies such as Intersect Investment are finding it difficult to maintain customer trust and Wall Street credibility simultaneously. The CEO Frank Jeffers has seen the need to build long term trust of the customer through the “customer intimacy” model wherein the major focus is on building long term relationships which will be perceived as one of value and trust to the customer, so that brand intimacy will be established. An improvement in brand image will also improve the Company’s rating on Wall Street as that of an ethical company which in turn will contribute to more business. The Company had introduced its “customer intimacy” model more than a year ago, however in terms of implementation, it has not been very successful. The previous Executive Vice President of Marketing was not convinced about the new philosophy and failed to provide effective leadership in implementing the new goals, for which he has been fired. Frank Jeffers provides effective leadership to his senior management staff and clearly spells out the goals that they must achieve. He has hired a new Executive Vice President of marketing – Janet Angelo, who has successfully implemented the customer intimacy model at the previous organizations where she was employed. Additionally, his vice President of Marketing is also a hand picked candidate –Jeff Contino, who is well versed in brand building through his experience with a Company that moved from the product selling approach to the service selling approach. The Director of HRM is Thomas Hardy who has cooperated with the management in trying to implement Intersect’s new policy, however in the past few years sales employee turnover has been very high. Lyn Chen is the vice President of Sales who has successfully kept the Company in a top ranking position as far as customer satisfaction is concerned in the past fifteen years, through her ability to inspire and motivate her sales teams. However of late, Lyn has not been so successful in bringing about improved sales and customer confidence is slipping, but she is resistant to change and has opposed the shift to the new “customer intimacy model”. Annie Sorrento on the other hand, is the Director of Sales Operations, who has achieved her new position because of her strong belief in the new customer intimacy model and her clear insight into the fact hat it is the lack of effective leadership that has been the cause of the Company’s recent failures. Janet Angelo has an additional challenge that confronts her. At the other organizations where she worked, she was able to implement the changes gradually over a period of there years. However Frank Jeffers expects her to effectively integrate the new “customer intimacy” model within a period of one year, although there has already been resistance from within the organization among the sales employees and sales staff, who are not eager to put in the extra time with each customer that will go towards building customer confidence, in the belief that it will erode the time necessary to increase sales turnover. Issue Identification The major issue at stake in this Company is how to bring about an effective leadership plan that will enable the senior leadership to effectively implement the plan for a “customer intimacy” model. Although there is general respect and loyalty to the leadership ,the problem that the Company has been facing is due to the lack of effective leadership and the fact that a united, common vision is not forthcoming from the senior management. Employees are confused and ignorant about the Company’s new objectives, specifics of information on the new services have not been provided to the employees, moreover there is dissension among the leaders from whom the employees are receiving mixed messages. In addition, many of them are also opposed to the general principle of increasing sales through spending more time with customers, believing this to be mutually exclusive and therefore, they need convincing of the efficacy of such plans. Lyn Chen has posed significant resistance to the new plan along with many employees at the sales level, yet many employees of the Company respect her and firing her could prove to be detrimental to the organization. Therefore the challenge that awaits Janet Angelo in implementing the new plan and achieving goals in one year is to effective motivate the leadership to examine new ways of achieving success and building long term investor confidence. Opportunity Identification The results of industry studies on the “customer intimacy” model have proved their efficacy in terms of improving customer confidence and increasing sales. Additionally, the Company has excellent employees whose services can be effectively harnessed, provided they are convinced about the feasibility of the new approach and learn to eschew their old ideas in favor of new and revised models. The Company has an impressive human resources base and has also designed an effective services package, as may be seen from one customer’s letter. This shows that customers welcome the new brand of services and will be receptive to them if they are provided these services at ground level as well, form the sales staff. The Company ahs the opportunity to maintain customer confidence and improve its Wall Street rating simultaneously Stakeholder Perspectives/Ethical Dilemmas The ethical dilemma posed in this situation have to do with employee morale and confidence and also the lacuna that exists between advertised services and those provided. In the achievement of the long term goal, a valued long term employee such as Lyn Chen may have to be fired due to her resistance to the new model and her insistence on adhering to the old model when it is failing. But would this be an ethical course when she has been one of the team members most valued in brining the Company to the present position? According to Pastin (1986) an ethical organization is obsessed with fairness. The important aim of any ethics program is not altering the values of its employees, since moral and religious values are a matter of personal choice, rather the introduction of ethical standards must be geared towards managing conflicts that may arise between employees or other organizations (Kirrace 1990 ) Apart from this issue, the lacuna in the services provided is not keeping up to the promises of the kind is services which senior management says it will provide and this defies the principles of honesty and integrity of business. In the singular, focused goal to achieve productivity and profitability in an atmosphere of intensive competition, ethics can often take a back seat , resulting in managerial decisions that are illegal, unethical and questionable (Madsen and Shafritz, 1990). Problem Definition The major problem that confronts Janet Angelo is how to ensure that valued employees like Lyn Chen are working in line with Company policy rather than resisting it. Employee confidence in management has already been undermined through the lack of clearly defined goals and objectives and due to the inherent lack of belief in the success of the new approach. The Executive Vice President of marketing, a long term employee of fifteen years, has already been fired for his refusal to adhere to the new policy and this has sent mixed messages of lack of unity among the leadership to the employees. Moreover, knowledge about the new program has not been effectively transmitted down to the sales staff levels. Joan Angelo can consider firing Lyn Chen and replacing her perhaps with an employee such as Annie Sorreno who would be in line with Company policy. However, this will further increase uncertainty among employees, added to which Annie’s inexperience could prove to be a liability to the Company. As opposed to this, Lyn Chen is experienced and capable and has proved her worth to the Company, besides which she has a loyal following among some sales employees. Therefore Angelo’s challenge lies in changing Lyn’s mindset, so that’s he is able to see that the sales techniques that have served the Company well in past years are no longer effective and need to be revamped. If Lyn’s experience and ability to inspire and motivate her staff is turned in favor of the new plan, it is likely to reap rewards for the company. Moreover, frequent employee turnover raises serious questions about the ethics prevailing at the organization, since long term employees do not leave for flimsy reasons. The complaints about lack of leadership, etc are likely to highlight the possibility of ethical misconduct and a lack of integrity and honesty in management’s approach to its employees. The lack of information is also a significant reason for employee dissatisfaction. Angelo therefore needs to concentrate on ensuring that information about the new program is communicated to the employees, together with industry reports on the success of the “customer intimacy” model in other organizations. Also, Angelo can inform the employees about the letter front he dissatisfied customer, which will reveal more clearly than anything else, what the customers are expecting and how their expectations are not being met which is resulting in a loss of business. The Company has had a long history of success and has a valuable human resource team. The best way to achieve the “customer intimacy” model is only through improvement in employee performance. Results will be far better and faster if old employees are used, rather than high sales employee turnover which results in losses in revenue in hiring and training staff. Therefore, sales managers have to re-set the goals in terms of not merely achieving sales targets but in building a pool of loyal customers on the basis of trust. This can only be achieved through effective utilization of the sales team. When they are motivated to perform and convinced of the action they are taking, it is likely that they will perform well. Therefore the real challenge is to convince all the employees and especially people like Lyn Chen about the new Plan and gather their support. This will achieve the end faster than hiring and firing employees End-State Goals The main goal that is sought to be achieved is the implementation of the “customer intimacy” model. This will make available a superior services package that is geared towards inspiring confidence in the customer. Every sales call is to be spread over more time, to ensure that a customer is truly satisfied with the service that is available and is received from the employees. By building a pool of loyal customers, the Company will be able to establish a solid foundation for its business which will bring in more stable profits and ensure that it enjoys a stable position on Wall Street. Another goal is to achieve a more united leadership and remove the dissension in the ranks, so that Company policy is clear to the employees and they can work under a united leadership. This will help to achieve the goal of building the “customer intimacy” model when employees are fully convinced of its efficacy. Conclusion The key issues that face the Company are the lack of effective and united leadership, which have caused expensive and increased sales personnel turnover. The goal that is to be achieved is the implementation of the customer intimacy” model in order to bring in more stable, long term business to the Company and to ensure its position on Wall Street. The major thrust of the Company’s efforts should therefore be directed towards retaining the existing staff and conveying information about the new program, engaging in a strong effort to convince existing employees about the efficacy of the model in order to solicit their cooperation. This will not be achieved by more firing of employees but rather by projecting a united vision by management, in order or inspire employee confidence. Happy and motivated employees will then be able to motivate customers to be committed to the Company and trust in its services, thereby building brand image and also improving sales. References Cited: Kirrane, Diane. (1990). “A systematic approach to Business Ethics.” Training and Development Journal. * Madsen and Shafritz (1990). Essentials of Business Ethics" Penguin Books. Pastin (1986): “The Hard problems of Management: Gaining the Ethics Edge” San Francisco: Jossey bass. Table 1 Issues Issues Issue Introduction of “customer intimacy” model Details Building long term customer confidence Enhanced package of services Issue Addressing disunity in leadership Details The lack of belief of some of the senior management in the new policy The discord between stated goals by management and those implemented by sales management Issue Addressing sales goals Details Setting realistic sales targets Emphasizing necessity of more time to be spent with each customer Emphasizing long term relationships with customer rather than short term sales Issue Addressing employee uncertainty Details Introducing more cooperation among senior management Addressing the concerns of senior management and sales staff Issue Addressing the problem of high turnover Details Increased expenses in hiring and training sales staff The need to retain existing sales staff Table 2 Opportunities Opportunities Opportunity Increased sales Details Possibility of increases sales through new services package Increasing customer confidence through more time for individual sales calls Opportunity Valuable human resource pool Details Possibility of convincing existing staff of the viability of the new policy Encouraging and motivating existing staff rather than hiring anew, which will be more economical Opportunity Increased business through building customer base Details Introduce new package of services Acquaint sales staff with details and motivate them to connect with customer Motivate sales staff to focus on building long term realtionships Opportunity Details Opportunity Details Table 3 Stakeholder Perspectives and Ethical Dilemmas Stakeholder Perspectives and Ethical Dilemmas Stakeholder Group Interests, Rights, and Values Ethical Dilemmas Employees Understanding and reasonable expectations from management Projecting one set of values from senior management and another set of targets to be achieved by their local managers Management The right to be fired only for a just cause Failing to fully convince people such as Lyn Chen of the value of the new policy and firing her instead Customers The right to be provided the service that is advertised and promised Projecting one set of services and in reality failing to provide it Read More